Welcome

A Supermarine Spitfire, built in Castle Bromwich, 1944.

By Bernard Spragg, NZ, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. Source

Sir Louis Mallett 1823-1890

It is clear that the right of absolute self-government involves the corresponding duty of self-support and self-defence.

‘The Political Opinions of Richard Cobden’

Welcome to Clay Lane

Straightforward English

“The course should train pupils to observe, learn more of the world they live in, think clearly, use the imagination and to speak clearly.”

NL Clay, Think and Speak (1929)

Clay Lane is a traditional British education, of the kind seen in English schools before the educational changes of the 1960s. It is inspired by textbooks written by NL Clay, Senior English Master at Ecclesfield Grammar School in Yorkshire, and used across the country from the late 1920s.

Read short passages from literature and history, many of them chosen to provide a commentary on modern events and opinions. Or try your hand at puzzles in grammar and vocabulary like those Clay set for pupils aged 12-16. How would you have got on in the fourth form?

This site is for people who appreciate our heritage of strong, plain-spoken English from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to Austen, Dickens and Kipling, who take pride in the courage and vision of our country’s heroes both small and great, and who enjoy playing with words, sentences and ideas.

Get started with The Clay Lane Blog

About Clay Lane

VIPs: Very Important Posts

In Quotations: What We Stand For

Thomas Huxley on The Object of a Liberal Education

NL Clay on Straightforward English

Materials for the study of good, correct, straightforward English.

Traditional, pre-Sixties methods and content.

Read interesting passages from history and literature.

Practise writing your own English sentences.

Ask for help if you need it.

“If ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ are to be more than catchwords, clear communication must be the rule, and not the exception. Do we want a society in which placid masses take their orders from bosses? The alternative to government by force is government by persuasion. The latter must mean that the governed can talk back to the governors.”

NL Clay, Straightforward English (1949)

Post Box : Get In Touch

Follow

The Blog

New and archive material, updated frequently. Passages for reading, brainteasers for solving, and music for listening.

Read English

The Copy Book

Browse hundreds of short passages from history, fiction, poetry and legend.

Write English

Think and Speak

Brainteasers for developing vocabulary, grammar and expression.

Ask your questions, and get personalised help with your English from me, Nicholas.

Play Games

Think and Speak

Puzzles with words and their letters, just for fun.

Read the Bible

Comfortable Words

The incomparable English of the King James Bible, the Prayer Book, and more.

From The Best Man for the Job

Dear Sir,

It seems impossible to say anything in public which will not be misunderstood and misrepresented.

I have no objection to working men as candidates. What I object to is that a candidate should be chosen only or mainly because he is a working man, and that I should be expected to vote for him for the same reason.

Read

Spinners Find in Think and Speak

For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.

The words in this puzzle are taken randomly from a list of 927 common words. You can change e.g. cat → cats, go → went, quick → quickly.

1 Chair. Loss. Not.

2 Book. Evening. Position.

3 Officer. Shoot. Student.

Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)

Extracts from Fiction

Posts 120

Romance, adventure and comedy from the very best fiction writers, including Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, John Buchan, and many more.

Picture: © DarrelBirkett. CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

International Relations

Posts 42

Britain has always demanded respect, open seas, and to be left in peace to ‘work out our own salvation’ — a courtesy we should extend to others.

Picture: © CEphoto, Uwe Aranas. CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

Discovery and Invention

Posts 116

Tales of scientific innovation and merchant enterprise, from steam power and life-saving medicines to new trade partners far away, and new ways to reach them.

Picture: © Maggie Stephens. CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

Animal Stories

Posts 81

Fables and true tales about animals, including a dog who regularly commuted to Matlock, a horse who didn’t approve of bad language, and a cat who saved her owners from an earthquake.

Picture: © Luis García. CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

Russia

Posts 62

Stories from our cousins in the East, from Rurik the Viking and the Baptism of Rus’ to trade with Ivan the Terrible, a visit from Peter the Great, and the last Emperor.

Picture: © Красный. CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.

America and the US

Posts 25

Tales from our cousins to the West, telling of their independence from Britain, their bloody civil war, their runaway prosperity, and the slender thread by which it hangs.

Picture: © U.S. Department of Defense. Public domain.. Source.

See All